The Tag-Along 2

Oct 17

A-Z Horror Movie of the Day..."The Haunted 2" (aka The Tag Along 2 - NR - 2017 - Taiwan)...Still had good creeps!

Sub-Genre: Paranormal/Ghost My Score: 6.0

Cast=4 Acting=7 Plot=6 Ending=6 Story=5 Scare=5 Jump=6 F/X=7 Creep=9 Twist=5

When a teenage daughter disappears, she is told that her daughter was last seen with the spirit of a girl in red. Peril ensues as she tries to unravel the mystery and save her daughter before it's too late.

"The five thunder spell will protect you from evil spirits." The what now? Well I still can't say much about the story...it was even more disjointed than the first. The creeps were still solid, though. It was starting to remind me of those fantasy style Kung-Fu movies...only there was no fighting. I can only recommend it as a follow up to the first...I had both on one DVD so it was easy.

An interesting sequel to the first film that operates like a stand alone film while also going deeper into the mythology of the infant demons in the forest. I like this film because you see the film unfold through three different perspectives, but the film is very heavy handed in its religious tones and "anti-abortion" ideas which may turn off some people. This being said, it's still an enjoyable film with more action than you would expect. The CGI FX are just passable but most of that is saved for the third act of the film (which does get very heavy to the point of being just a little too much).

Trying to find her missing daughter, a woman joins a rescue team when she's spotted being lead away by a mysterious figure in red heading into the local woods to find her and discovers a strange connection to a local legend involving the deadly figure forcing her to protect her daughter.

For the most part, this was a decent enough if still highly flawed sequel. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the film is the localized build-up of the central storyline involving the mysterious girl ghost. With the stories they tell featuring the girl leading people away through hypnotism and other mind tricks, the need for the red cloak at all times and the general behavior she exhibits when capturing them allows for the spirit here to have a great central feeling and helps to build a wholly chilling central character in the process. As well, the ghostly action here is quite fun and manages to get some startling encounters. The opening encounter in the woods gets this off to a great start and a surprisingly shocking sequence at the home of a fellow mystic that may hold the keys to solving the mystery she faces has some great work here featuring the ghost emerging from odd places to attack and generates some tense moments. There's also the rather fun scenes of the demon child running loose in the woods which invokes some rather creepy imagery of the supernatural beings performing their unearthly tricks. Seeing them turn into the demonic creatures and begin chasing them through the alternate dimensions battling the spirits of the unborn children. These here are what manage to hold this one up overall. However, there are several problems with the film. The main issue at hand here is the wholly disjointed and chaotic storyline that makes little to no sense at all. The idea of exploring the legend of the ghost girl in red is to have an idea of the motivations and practice that goes into what they're targeting and who's at risk, yet this one seems to ramble on more about the history of the locals' interactions with her rather than give out any kind of concrete example of what the ghost is accomplishing or after. Likewise, the idea of dragging the survivor from the first film into this unrelated film serves no use when she doesn't do anything in a catatonic state for the majority of the film and doesn't even serve the function of filling in the backstory work that she did in that one which would've been the perfect opportunity to have her there. The film's other big problem is a wholly overlong running time that doesn't do this one any favors. There are so many beats in here that aren't necessary at all, from a confusing side story involving a local tracker that acts like a tiger crawling on all fours or a series of encounters she has with the mystic woman who has her own tragic backstory that ties into what's going on. These segments are simply excessive and force the film to run on far longer than it really should giving us storyline points that aren't related to the film at all and causes the film to run through its ghosts scenes in truly perfunctory and expected manners to make up for the time lost to these situations. These are what really harm the film overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.

This is ok if you can get past the absurd tigar possession, and the fact the mom doesn't even mention the pregnancy to the boy that is responsible. I enjoyed the first Tagalong, but as usual the sequel was ridiculous. It also spoils part one's happier ending. I wouldn't recommend this one to anyone. However, the actors did a decent job, as usual for Korean movies. Maybe some people will enjoy this movie , it just wasn't for me. Usually I can't find anything critical to say about Korean movies, but this one just got lost in the moment. It's just my opinion, so maybe it appeals to a younger crowd, and it's me missing something idk.

If you've seen the first movie and still had some questions you wanted to be answered - well your prayers have been heard. This isn't half bad, the CGI towards the end is a bit cringe-worthy, but other than that, it can keep up with the previous movie. And not in a bad way. I might even go so far to say it is a bit better than the one before ... just a tiny bit though.

After all is being said and done, you will be the judge if this is good enough for your taste. But as mentioned above, I'd watch the first movie just to get a feeling if this is even something you want to watch.